Phantoms of Past, Present and Future
by BenRG
Summary: A repository of my short Danny Phantom stories. Non-related unless I specifically say so. Mostly D/S but some other/no ships possible
1. Doodles

**Phantoms of the Past, Present and Future**

Danny Phantom Short Stories

**Disclaimer**

Danny Phantom and the characters, situations, technologies and locations of the Danny Phantom universe were created by Butch Hartman for Nickelodeon Television. This is a not-for-profit fan work for free distribution through the world-wide web. No infringement of any trademark or copyright is intended or implied.

**Author's Notes**

This is a collection of some Danny Phantom short stories that I have written. Assume that they are entirely unrelated unless I mention any larger continuity in my introductory notes.

Censor: T – Just for safety's sake

Just a little bit of light-hearted D/S fluff to start off. Canon timeline, post-Phantom Planet.

**Doodles**

Jeremy Manson supposed that he was breaching something of a sacred trust, being in his daughter's room whilst she was out on a "date" (oh my word!) with that tearaway Fenton boy. Nonetheless, as a father, he had responsibilities towards his lovely Samantha (a girl who would be pretty if she allowed herself to be so). He hoped that, in this room, he might find some answers to the mystery of what was going through Samantha's mind and, most importantly, where this thing with the Fenton boy was going..

Over the years, he was candid enough to admit, a great barrier had grown up between himself and his little girl. Some of this was his fault for not trying to understand her interests and feelings. Other parts of it, he felt, must be blamed on her teen stubbornness and her quite unsuitable friends.

Jeremy walked through the room, grimacing at her dark decorations and generally macabre aesthetic. Then he noticed something on the desk where her personal computer sat. It seemed that she took after her late grandfather (Jeremy's father and the founder of the Manson family's fortune) in one important way. On her desk was a writing pad covered with doodles. Dad had always told him that, if he needed to clear his head before doing something, he doodled.

Jeremy sat down in the typist's chair in front of the desk and looked through his daughter's doodles, hoping that the unguarded products of her subconscious might tell him a little about what she was thinking. One page caught his eye. He smiled at the series of sketches of various clothing designs that covered the page. He always suspected that Sam had a secret interest in art and design for all she loudly proclaimed her disdain of 'conventional' aesthetics. The sketches showed a number of clothing designs for both the male and female form.

Jeremy's eyebrow quirked up when he noticed that the male 'model' in the sketches was none other than Danny Fenton. _Be wary, lad_, he thought with a smirk. _When a woman gets it in her mind that you are their 'project' to fix up, then your life will change in ways that you cannot imagine!_ What was strange about the sketches was that they seemed to be like something out of a super-spy movie, showing weird equipment attached to hidden belts and holsters either sown into or hidden under street clothes. Jeremy shook his head. Sometimes he despaired of Sam - even when designing clothes she had to turn it into something confrontational!

The next page puzzled Jeremy. It was a series of attempts to create what initially looked like some kind of corporate logo out of the letters 'D' and 'P'. As the sketches progressed, however, Jeremy realised that he _knew_ this emblem! It was the identifying mark of the 'Ghost-Boy' that he had started wearing just a little over six months ago. Jeremy shivered at the thought that his little girl would be associating with a dangerous ghost, even designing changes to his costume! Was this why she had become so reclusive and had been breaking curfew? How deeply was she involved in the spectral vigilante's affairs? He immediately resolved to speak to her, find out the truth and demand that she stop any association with that freak of nature before she got herself hurt!

Jeremy stood and was about to leave but the breeze of his sudden movement caused the pages of the sketch pad to flip over, revealing an odd sight. It seems that Sam had been practising her signature for some reason. However, as Jeremy's looked down the column of slowly changing names his eyes opened a lot wider.

_Sam Manson  
Samantha Manson_

'How I wish you would use that pretty full name, my dear' Jeremy thought. 'At least then I wouldn't have people wondering where my son, 'Samuel' has got to!'

_Samantha Elizabeth Manson  
Miss Samantha Elizabeth Manson_ - (this one was scratched out with a bold, black line)  
_Ms. Samantha Elizabeth Manson_

Jeremy had to laugh. Yes, his oh-so-independent daughter would loathe a title that defined her in terms of her marital status.

_Ms. S. E. Manson  
Ms. Samantha Manson  
Ms. Samantha Manson-Fenton_

'What the...?' Jeremy's mind went into a kind of paralysis and he could only continue to go down the list.

_Ms. Samantha E. Manson-Fenton  
__Mrs.__ Samantha E. Manson-Fenton  
Mrs. Samantha Elizabeth Fenton  
Mrs. Samantha Fenton  
Samantha Fenton  
Sammie Fenton  
__Sam Fenton_

Jeremy Manson looked at the final variant of his daughter's name, underlined and surrounded by, of all things, little valentine hearts and smiley faces. Whilst it was surprisingly reassuring that his daughter was doing something as stereotypically 'teen girl' as daydreaming about her married name, the exact name she had chosen was more than a little worrying.

At that point, Jeremy decided that he would stay up to ensure that his daughter returned by curfew. He also wanted to talk to her date! He had some very serious questions to ask Danny Fenton, and the boy had better have some answers!


	2. Hatred

**Phantoms of the Past, Present and Future**

Danny Phantom Short Stories

**Disclaimer**

Danny Phantom and the characters, situations, technologies and locations of the Danny Phantom universe were created by Butch Hartman for Nickelodeon Television. This is a not-for-profit fan work for free distribution through the world-wide web. No infringement of any trademark or copyright is intended or implied.

**Author's Notes**

This is a collection of some Danny Phantom short stories that I have written. Assume that they are entirely unrelated unless I mention any larger continuity in my introductory notes.

Censor: T – Just for safety's sake

A lot darker this time. The Ultimate Enemy takes a few moments out of his busy schedule to explain to one of his favourite victims exactly why he has chosen to torment him so.

Just to add a little personal note: I hate bullies; I always have and I always will. In my humble opinion, Dash gets off very lightly.

**Hatred**

In life, he had been Dash Baxter, the A-list "Prince of Casper High". However, Casper High was now a ruin as was all of the Earth. Very few things still lived and fewer still knew and remembered him. Instead, there was only a dreadful empty loneliness and the horrible prospect of an eternity on a dead world knowing that all of his friends had been lucky enough to be spared this torment.

"WHY?" the shade of Dash Baxter screamed as it knelt in front of the shattered tombstone of his girlfriend, Paulina Sanchez. "Why am I still here? Why did I have to come back as a ghost and why has _he _let me exist when he's destroyed everything else? Why?" the ghost of the young man began to sob. "Why?"

"Now _that_ is an exceedingly good question. I had wondered how long it would take your sub-par intellect to finally realise that your treatment has been... atypical."

Dash knew that voice. Every creature on Earth that could think and associate sound with memory knew that voice and dreaded hearing it, for it would be almost certainly the last thing you would ever hear. The Phantasm. Although he could no longer feel cold, Dash was trembling as he turned to face the menacing black-clad caped figure, its blazing blue hair and shining red eyes known everywhere as the harbingers of oblivion. "Are... are... are you here to destroy me, dude?"

Dan Phantasm chuckled, a sound devoid of any warmth. "Ah Dash! Still the D-grade average mind that I remember from our past!" The Destroyer of Worlds smirked cruelly. "If I wanted to grant you the sweet release of oblivion, Dash, I would have done so without first allowing you the undeserved dignity of letting you know what was about to happen." Phantasm cocked his head curiously and Dash realised that this was a maddeningly familiar gesture. He _knew_ it from somewhere or someone. "Firstly, I think I should ensure that I have your full attention and that we will not be interrupted." The super-powerful evil spirit gestured and suddenly crackling magenta ropes of ectoplasm had bound Dash to Paulina's marker. A magenta bubble of energy formed over the cemetery, isolating the two participants from external interference.

"What... what do you want man?"

"To answer your question, of course!" The Phantasm sat casually on top of another gravestone and grinned malevolently at the weak ghost sitting bound opposite him. "Ah, Dash! This takes me back! So many bad memories! You don't know how often I dreamed of turning the tables and tormenting you as you had so long tormented me! Well, with time, all things change and I suppose that I must have been a good little mass-murderer once or twice because Santa has granted me my wish!" Dash quailed from the demonic laughter.

"What did I ever do to you, dude?" Dash wailed.

"You don't know!" Phantasm marvelled. "You actually... Ah! Well, it isn't surprising. My... appearance _has _changed much since our youth together at Casper High!"

"You... you were a student at Casper High?"

"Indeed I was! And I knew you very well, Dash Baxter! I knew you _very _well indeed." Dash wracked his memories, desperately trying to associate the demonic figure in front of him with someone, _anyone _he had known at school: friend, acquaintance, enemy or just a passing face not worthy of any consideration at all. He came up blank. "You know, you were the very first success that I had in my attempts to bind a soul to this world! You were the very first ghost that I _made _rather than just appeared by chance after I took a life! I'm proud of that achievement, Dash! When I heard of that car accident during the panic to evacuate this damned city, I had feared that I lost my chance! I was more than pleased to see that my efforts were successful!"

"You... you forced me to be a ghost? Why?"

"For revenge, of course," Dan Phantasm replied with a shrug. He grinned as he watched the terror cross the weaker ghost's expression - Ah! Such terror! Such helpless, agonising dread! Bliss! "As cathartic as it would have been to destroy your ghost form and send you to oblivion, that was too merciful for one such as you." The monster scowled and its eyes flashed bright red. "No... I wanted this to _last_. I wanted you to know the full flavour of _misery_."

"I never did nothing to you man!" Dash screamed. "You've got no right! I... I never did nothin'!"

Then there was a most dreadful sound. The Phantasm was laughing uproariously. "You utter fool! I don't need a reason to torment the lesser creatures of any universe! Their pain is my amusement and crushing their hopes and joys into the dirt at my feet is my reason for being!" The creature stood up and strode over to Dash, getting right into his face. "However, _you_ were always a special project. With you, I had reason to want to make it _nasty_!"

"_Why_?"

"For hate's sake, of course! Ah, Dash! You I _hate_! I hate you, even now, more than you can imagine! More than any creature in two universes! I hate you more than those irritating parental failures the Fentons! I hate you more than that self-righteous harpy Jazz Fenton! I hate you more than that ridiculous, insignificant, arrogant little Goth girl Sam Manson! I even hate you more than Valerie Grey, the only person still foolish enough to try to fight me! I hate you Dash Baxter. I hate you and I want you to _suffer_!"

The Phantasm's voice had risen to a roar. "You cannot have had any clue what it is like, Dash! To dread every day! To know that you will suffer punishment for another's sins! To know that you will be victimised and that those in authority, those who _ought_ to protect you, are too busy winking at your tormentors!" The Phantasm actually seemed to be a little exhausted from its tirade. It fell silent and glared at Dash for a long minute. "Three hundred and twenty six. I kept count."

"What, dude?" Dash was so far beyond utter terror that he found he could actually think and respond.

The Phantasm grunted in annoyance. "That is the number of times you shoved me in my locker during my high school years, Dash. I have also kept count of the number of cruel pranks, wedgies and beatings."

"I... I didn't mean it!" Dash blurted, not even sure what he was trying to excuse. There were so many nerds and losers at school who he acted to keep in their place. This... _thing_ was one of them?

The Phantasm returned to his macabre seat and smirked at Dash. "Oh, you did," he snarled. "If you are sorry now, and I bet you are, it is because you are finally, _finally _realising that your little 'amusements' have consequences.

"I want you to do something for me, Dash Baxter. I want you to think of all those helpless children you and your accursed 'A-List' tormented over the years. I want you to think about that and realise that the empty horror of your afterlife is a kind of recompense for the torment that you have inflicted on others! And, above all else, I want you to remember a boy named Danny Fenton."

"F... Fenton?" Dash blinked. "You knew the Fenturd? You are doing this to get revenge for him? Why the heck should you care what happened to an ultra-loser like _him_?"

The Phantasm laughed dangerously. "Oh Dash, if only you knew. You see, you are one of the great formative influences of my afterlife! What I am now is, at least in a small but significant part, due to those injustices you so casually meted out and laughed at." The Phantasm looked Dash right in the eyes and smiled horribly. "Dash... I _was_ Danny Fenton."

"No..."

"Oh yes. And I assure you that I would not have had such a deep need for vengeance and such a keen understanding of sadism if it were not for you!"

"Jeez! Jeez! J... Fenton! Danny! I... I didn't mean it man! I didn't know! I DIDN'T KNOW!"

The Phantasm leant back, steepling his fingers in front of his face and adopting a judicial expression. "A very wise being once taught that doing the right thing is easy if one lives in fear of punishment, Dash. However, the _true_ nature of a being is revealed by what they do when they think they can do so in impunity. You, I think, would have been a much nicer person if you knew that you would eventually suffer the consequences for your sins. However, I think that your true nature was revealed by what you did in ignorance of that fact. How ironic that I, who loathe and despise that weak-minded concept that is 'justice', should have become its instrument!"

"Are... are you saying that you destroyed everything... killed everyone... just to get back at me?"

The Phantasm looked at Dash for a long moment before replying, wondering how best to reply in such a way that would do most harm to the cowering ghost. Finally, he spoke. "Don't flatter yourself, Dash. You were never that significant an influence on me. However, I think it would be good for you to remember that you added just a little _spicy edge_ to my hatred." He chuckled darkly. "You might also want to know that I made the deaths of your pitiful little 'A-List' just that little more lingering and horrible, just as a memorial to those bad old days."

Dash swallowed an impossible sense of nausea, horror worse than what he had known before filling his soul with despair. "You... you are saying they are dead because of me?"

"No, they are dead because their deaths amused me and their screams made me feel all warm and toasty and happy." The Phantasm chuckled malevolently. "However, they suffered that little bit more because of _you_." The monster took a thoughtful posture, stroking his flaming goatee beard, a sick grin lighting his features. "Paulina, especially, was a tasty dish! Such a strange girl. I am convinced that, on a certain level, she _liked _what I was doing to her! Were you the one who taught her to like it rough? Naughty boy, Dash!"

Dash sobbed helplessly and crumpled in on himself. The Phantasm laughed. "I hate you, Dash Baxter," he repeated. "I hate you and, in that hate, I have decided that I will grant you a gift that I have given to no other being in the multiverse, human or ghost. I, Daniel Phantasm, Destroyer of Worlds, hereby swear on my power that I will never, _ever_ allow your existence to end, either by action or by inaction!"

The monster that had once been Dash's favourite victim - a meaningless, insignificant boy who could be beaten on without even the slightest fear of consequences - strode over and, with an astonishing gentle touch to the chin, lifted Dash's face so he had to look up into his blazing red eyes. "You will exist forever, alone on this dead world, denied your friends or even the release of oblivion. You will suffer forever, Dash Baxter, both in being alone and without purpose and in the knowledge that, in some small manner, you have been finally and utterly beaten but one who you always dismissed as a _loser_!"

Suddenly the bubble shield was gone as were Dash's bonds. With a dangerous chuckle Dan Phantasm looked up and saw a red-clad figure flying overhead on a hover-board. "Well, well! Lover-girl is here for another round! I can't possibly stand her up for a date! Toodles, Dash! Enjoy the rest of _eternity_!" The Phantasm leapt into the air and was gone.

The shade of Dash Baxter wept where he lay at the base of Paulina Sanchez's tombstone. He wept for so long. However, he now knew that, no matter how long he lay here in the dirt, he would always have an eternity left to go. In his youth, Dash had dreamed of being a sporting hero and establishing a reputation that would live forever. He never would have entertained such dreams if he knew exactly _what _living forever would mean for him.

Justice _loves_ irony.


	3. I Got You Babe

**Phantoms of the Past, Present and Future**

Danny Phantom Short Stories

**Disclaimer**

Danny Phantom and the characters, situations, technologies and locations of the Danny Phantom universe were created by Butch Hartman for Nickelodeon Television. This is a not-for-profit fan work for free distribution through the world-wide web. No infringement of any trademark or copyright is intended or implied.

The lyrics of '_I Got You Babe_' were written by Sonny Bono. Their reproduction here is protected under 'fair usage' legislation and does not represent any claim to authorship or royalties on the part of the author of this work.

**Author's Notes**

This is a collection of some Danny Phantom short stories that I have written. Assume that they are entirely unrelated unless I mention any larger continuity in my introductory notes.

Censor: T – Just for safety's sake

Back to fluffy romance now. This represents my first serious attempt at writing a song-fic.

**I Got You Babe**

"Danny and Sam! Danny and Sam!" the Juniors, soon to be Seniors, of Casper High School were chanting. Danny rolled his eyes and briefly considered turning himself and Sam invisible and intangible so they could escape. It was the post-Prom party at Dash's house. Somehow, Danny, Sam, Val and Tucker got invited (the fact that Dash knew Danny's secret identity and that Sam would inherit a massive fortune when she hit eighteen may have influenced that decision).

Right now, the party had turned to that traditional humiliation - the Karaoke. Dash and Kwan had already left the crowd cringing (and offering nervous and sympathetic applause) after murdering some unrecognisable rap number. Paulina, Star and the rest of the 'A-List' girls had given a sickly-sweet rendition of some Hannah Montana song. Now, the spotlight had fallen on Casper High's favourite 'Geek-Couple'.

It was surprising, even after the Disasteroid incident, how few people actually realised that Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom were one and the same. Even people who you would have expected to spill the beans, like Dash, declined to do so. Why ever this was, Sam was grateful as it increased the chances that she and Danny would be able to live a normal life without the demands of being a public figure (and it still shocked her how easily, when she thought of her future, Danny's name was automatically connected to hers in her mind).

"Come on, we'd better do this or they'll never quit calling for us." Danny stood up. Sam shot her boyfriend a pleading look but knew he was right, curse the fates.

The two went up on stage. Whilst Sam nervously adjusted the microphone stand heights, Danny scrolled through the extensive list of songs available on Dash's state-of-the-art and nearly commercial-standard karaoke machine. He briefly considered some of the songs by Sam's favoured artists but decided that Goth music wasn't quite right for an end-of-semester party. He also completely ruled out the various sugary songs by the teen stars favoured by the female A-Listers. Some heavy rock songs were available but didn't 'feel' right somehow. Ah! But what was this? "Sam?" Sam looked over. "What about this one?"

Sam whistled. "Danny, that one was old before we were born!"

Danny laughed. "Yeah, I know. I actually sat through Mom and Dad singing it one Thanksgiving." Sam looked sceptical. "Come on, Sam! If there is anyone who proves that black can look stylish, it's Cher!"

Sam rolled her eyes but still laughed. "What the hell! Yeah, let's do this!"

Danny selected the song and the room fell silent as the opening organ riff filled the air. Danny and Sam took the microphones off the stands and faced the audience.

[NOTE: Sam's voice is in **bold text**; Danny's voice is in _italics; _Both signing is in _**bold italic text**_]

**They say we're young and we don't know!  
Won't find out until we grow.**

_Well I don't know 'bout that's true,  
But you got me and baby I got you!_

_**Babe. I got you babe!  
I got you babe!**_

**They say our love won't pay the rent!  
Before it's earned our money's all been spent!**

_I guess that's true, we ain't got lot  
But at least I'm sure of all the things we got!_

_**Babe. I got you babe!  
I got you babe!**_

**I've got flowers, in the spring!**

Danny turned to look at Sam and took her left hand, where that gaudy WAS class ring adorned her middle finger.

_I got you to wear my ring!_

He raised her hand to his lips and kissed the ring lightly. Sam's pale face flamed red. She looked into Danny's eyes and she seemed to be almost singing the next lines in a trance.

**When I'm sad, you're a clown!  
And when I get scared, you're always around!**

**So let them say your hair's too long!**

Sam grinned and ran her free hand through Danny's untidy black hair.

**I don't care! With you I can't go wrong!**

Danny smiled back at his girlfriend and raised his free hand in front of him, in between them.

_So put your li'l hand in mine!  
There ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb!_

Sam put her free hand into Danny's and the two of them gripped tightly.

_**Babe. I got you babe!  
I got you babe!  
I got you babe!  
I got... you babe!  
I got you babe!  
I got you babe!**_

_I got you to hold my hand!_

**I got you to understand!**

_I got you to walk with me!_

**I got you to talk with me!**

_I got you to kiss goodnight!_

**I got you to hold me tight!**

Danny raised their joined hands between them and both teens visibly tightened their grips.

_I got you! I won't let go!_

**I got you to love me so!**

_**I got... you babe!  
I got you babe!  
I got you babe!**_

The music trailed off. Sam and Danny seemed to have to physically shake themselves from their locked gazes. The two walked off the makeshift stage to loud applause. No one missed the fact that their hands were still joined.

"Man!" Tucker murmured to Val. "Was it me or were there moments up there when they were alone together?"

"That wasn't an 'or' question," Val responded, not sure whether she should be blazing with jealous anger that the woman who held Danny's heart so tightly wasn't her or whether she should be weeping in joy that her recently-discovered best girl friend had found someone for whom she could feel so strongly.

Dash barged over and stood in front of Tucker, his shadow/lackey Kwan at his shoulder. "Foley, the word is that you keep the book on those two!"

Tucker looked at the tall blond boy nervously. "Yeah, what if I do?"

Dash leaned forwards. "What are the odds on them skipping to get hitched after graduation?"

"Nine to two against," Tucker said without hesitation. "Sam would want to do it but Danny's cautious and he's the only one in this world that she'd listen to."

Dash slapped a $20 note onto the table in front of Tucker. "I'll take that action."

"I'm in," Kwan added, putting down a twenty of his own. Paulina, Star and the rest of the 'A-List' were quick to follow.


End file.
